More and more bloggers may become podcasters due to the latest offering from San Francisco-based Odiogo.

The software company launched an application that extracts textual blog posts or articles from Web sites and converts them into lightweight MP3 files almost immediately. 

Those audio files are then available for download onto the iPods, PDAs, MP3 player and other mobile devices, enabling fans of a blog get ‘audio-to-go.’ Users will also be able to rewind, play and fast-forward through an audio version of each post. 

Odiogo’s text-to-speech technology takes freshly posted RSS content and observes punctuation and natural speech patterns to create audio content. The company is constantly improving on the listening experience.  

In order to participate, bloggers can sign up for free at www.odiogo.com. Listeners subscribe via a button displayed on the content provider’s site. Updates are store on Odiogo’s data center and downloaded automatically when users synchronize their playing devices. 

 - Posted by Cara Wood

Yesterday, media company BubblePLY.com announced the launch of its free video editing service, Ply Media, which allows anyone to add text bubbles and subtitles on top of pre-existing online video.

 This technology has interesting impications for any marketer doing viral video or uploading commericals or product videos online. It just got easier for a brand’s  supporters or detractors to give their two cents about any corporate communications released via online video.

The site at www.bubbleply.com does not host any videos itself. Instead, it links to more than 15 video sharing Web sites, including YouTube, Google Video, ifilm and Dailymotion.

Users paste a video link, add the desired layers and a updated video link ready for posting is generated.

The Huntington Beach, CA-based company does not anticipate copyright infringement issues. The Web site states that the technology ”does not interfere with the video, edit, manipulate or modify it… but only enables users to comment on an independent layer which streams from a separate source.”

 - Posted by Cara Wood

The next time you send a marketing e-mail or letter to someone at the office, be sure you are considering his or her needs.
 
A recent study conducted by at-work consumer marketing firm WorkPlace Media found that 83 percent of working Americans rely on caffeine “to get them through the day.

This week’s National Retail Federation show at the Javitz Center was an expo into the future of shopping.  Mutichannel retailing seems to be a given in this coming world as the technological gadgets and online intelligence makes its way into the stores. 

Mobile devices and marketing had their place at the exhibition hall.  Verizon was demonstrating its mobile credit card devices, where customers can check out with a sales associate on the sales floor without waiting in lines.  If you have ever shopped in an Apple store, then you know that every retailer in the world should offer this service.  It makes check out smooth and fast.  Swipe your credit card and the employee bags your purchase with the bags they carry on their belt.  By the time you get home, your e-mail receipt is waiting in your inbox. 

Then of course there were a number of retail management systems on display at the show.  Many, like Merchant Applications Inc., were offering the centralization between back end inventory systems with front end check out and customer database models. 

Both of these seem intuitive to making the check out process easier. When it comes to the real cutting edge shopping experience, Sony and Escalate Retail had some pretty innovative product offerings. 

Sony’s in-store shopping product included a customer loyalty card to tracks a customer’s behavior from when they enter the store.  Browse at a dress on a hanger, try on a sweater or buy some wine.  All of this information is recorded and stored, so that retailers can follow up with marketing messages via e-mail or in your next shopping experience.  Expect to see a screen flashing “Hello John Doe.” and an offer for 10 percent off that bottle of wine the next time you enter the store. 

Escalate Retail also offered some Sci-Fi looks into the shopping experience with an inventory customer matching system.  It sounds like your basic, you bought a red sweater last winter, so when new red blouses come in for spring, you get an e-mail.  However, this e-mail offers the chance to visit the store for an appointment with your favorite personal shopper.  At the visit the retailer can sit you down with a virtual closet, filled with the entire wardrobe that you own that was purchased at their store.  Imagine, see this new red blouse will match perfectly with that floral skirt, but you may need a new pair of sandals to complete the outfit.  

It’s online analytics coming to a mall near you. 

-Dianna Dilworth 

On January 11 when European football star David Beckham made the startling announcement that he would join American Major League Soccer team L.A. Galaxy I was in Madrid, Spain - home of Beckham’s current team Real Madrid C.F.

The former English captain’s move to the United States where he would arguably not have the same level of competition and yet supercede former salary figures was a top story. Beckham accepted a $250 million dollar, five-year contract, which tops the highest paid European stars by roughly $20 million a year and required an abridgement to MLS salary cap rules. The rules now state each team can have one player that does not adhere to salary cap guidelines and many are calling it the Beckham amendment.

On L.A. Galaxy, Beckham will have the opportunity not only to bring his pop star wife Victoria (Posh Spice) to Hollywood but also bring the European-style and level of play to the American masses - a group of avid and money-spending sports fans who has not taken as much interest in soccer/football as the rest of the world.

I’d already spent a lot of my vacation thinking about the phenomenon that is European football fandom. I attended a Charlton vs. Aston Villa game at Charlton’s home stadium “The Valley” just outside London. At a live football match in England it is hard not to see the charm and excitement in the crowd-led chants, the absence of wide screen televisions and interactive ad banners and warm meat pies at the concession stands.  

Perhaps European football is not as commercial as its American counterparts. At “The Valley” there was merchandising and branding but it did not seem as persuasive as in my former visits to Giants stadium, Foxboro stadium or Fenway Park. My trip mates, being bigger European fans than I, quickly set me straight about any lack of marketing in European football.

They explained each team in the European league has a major sponsor which is featured on player’s jerseys. These jerseys are bought and proudy worn by fans and recognizable solely by sponser’s name. It’s equivalent branding to Nike or Aidias sports gear. The only team that has enough private funding to not have a sponsor is F.C. Barcelona. Some of their jerseys feature nonprofit groups instead.

All of this got me wondering what if any changes Major League Soccer will see in the upcoming years. How will L.A. Galaxy profit from its Beckham investment and how can marketers better align themselves with avid sports fans? The real question is do American fans have room in their hearts and wallets for another sports season?

  - Posted by Cara Wood  

In an effort to provide knowledge, tools, and control to e-commerce merchandising managers, Mercado Software launched Mercado 4.0.

Mercado 4.0 is a solution that represents a new generation of intelligent e-commerce, the company said in a release. It combines site search and navigation technologies with merchandising and actionable reporting.

“The platform is unique because it actually sorts the merchant’s results according to high inventory levels,

Response Mine, the search marketing firm in Atlanta, appears to be continuing on a healthy growth path. When last covered in this blog on August of 2006, CEO Ken Robbins revealed that the firm’s headcount had increased from 16 to 33 people in 2006.

In a conversation earlier this week, I learned that the company now has another six positions open. Presumably, the ideal candidates will have the math degrees, science degrees or finance degrees that worked so well for previous hires – as long as the holders of these math-oriented skills are also bestowed with the “E